A pickup truck driver crossed into oncoming traffic on a northwestern Wisconsin highway, hitting cars driven by two brothers and killing one of the brothers, authorities said.

The collision occurred about 2:40 p.m. Sunday on Washburn County Hwy. B east of Shell Lake, Wis., and about 25 miles north of Barron, the State Patrol said.

Pickup driver Donald D. Meyer, 51, of Chippewa Falls, Wis., was taken by air ambulance to a hospital in Minnesota with critical injuries, the patrol added.

One of the car drivers, Brett W. Tyler, 23, of Chetek, Wis., was killed, the patrol said.

The second driver, Trae A. Tyler, 24, of Rice Lake, Wis., escaped injury.

Authorities are investigating why the pickup driver went over the centerline.

Paul Walsh